aqua vu downrigger ball housing

[billybono]

construction is starting on the mold today. i dont understand why aqua vu hasent made this product yet....all of the fish housings and no rear facing downrigger ball housing. mabye ill make a few bucks.


   billybono

[billybono]

i came up with a better solution.....took one of my regular balls, ground a flat spot to the top of it, and im going to braise the wieghts that come with the aqua vu to the top of it.. it will work perfect. next is to figure out how im going to pull and lower the cable. consitering zip tying it to the ball cable, and winding it right up with the rigger, but im not so sure it wont damage the cable

   billybono

[OTIS]

Try two zip ties, one snug to the Aqua-Vu cable holding another that is just creating an "O" around the down rigger cable.  When you reel up the cable, it will slide through loop.  And when you are finished, you can remove the ball and slide them off to reuse again.

[billybono]

well if i figure out i can reel up the camera cable in the rigger without damaging it, ill zip tie it to the cable every foot or so......because im sure cable drag is going to be ann issue...and of course there is the chance i could get the ball hung up and lose the camera.....but in the past 2 years, ive only hung the ball up once, and beers were involved 


   billybono

[OTIS]

Losing the ball and camera would suck!

[esox slayer]

well if i figure out i can reel up the camera cable in the rigger without damaging it, ill zip tie it to the cable every foot or so......because im sure cable drag is going to be ann issue...and of course there is the chance i could get the ball hung up and lose the camera.....but in the past 2 years, ive only hung the ball up once, and beers were involved 


   billybono

Hey BB...my only thoughts on zip ties would be this..if you use them, as the cable is wound back on the spool, wouldn't the "knot" on the zip tie eventually dig into the camera cable??  Seems like a zip tie may not allow the cable/camera wire to lay on the spool nice and flat.  I was thinking something more along the lines of a couple wraps of electrical tape every foot or so, at least that would lay flatter as you retreived the cable....Esox

[esox slayer]

Just another thought...all those zip tie "knots" would increase the surface area on the cable, creating more drag, I think the tape would make for a better coefficient traveling through the water.....Esox

[billybono]

good point!  im actually more worried about the downrigger cable itself digging into the coax. perhaps i could wrap the downrigger cable in electical tape to soften it, then try that



   billybono

[esox slayer]

construction is starting on the mold today. i dont understand why aqua vu hasent made this product yet....all of the fish housings and no rear facing downrigger ball housing. mabye ill make a few bucks.


   billybono

BTW..BB..I'm not trying to be negative because I think you've got a great idea with this..I'm just looking at some potential problems that could get costly real quickly....keep at it,, keep us posted....Esox

[billybono]

no problem  ive already got 2 balls sitting on the bottom of lake o( just got the riggers....never checked to see if the cable was any good  ) the actual strike vision system www.strikevision.com is actually an integrated rigger cable/camera cable....so i cant draw to many hints from it.

   when i did a google search for aqua vu downrigger ball, i kept geting press releases for a wireless camera there in development of....now that sounds cool


   billybono

[billybono]

Loosing cannon balls really stinks.
I've lost a couple over the years, and yes, one instance involved beer.

Anyway, I own an aquaview and would really love to see what you end up with when you're finished.  Is it possible to post a few pix after you get all this perfected.

Thanks.

Mac

  sucks more when its your first time rigging up the rigger, and the mainline is snagged around the release, and a 15 dollar ball, 15 dollar flasher and 7 dollar fly are sitting at the bottom.


  ill be sure to put the pics up. im also going to make a vid off the camera during the maiden voyage so you can see it for yourself...

   less than a week


    billybono

[fishshack]

Bill- Sounds like a great idea. It will be interesting to see how much additional blowback the cable and camera creates. Most of the down temp units have a tiny wire wrapped on the downrigger wire. I would get the heaviest downrigger ball you can find. How far will the camera see under 50 or 60 fow?  Even if there is a lot of drag you should be able to get it pretty deep.

[billybono]

well, im using a tru trac 12 or 13 pound ball. first things first though my scout has the bluegill cover. but the tail is broken off. with the tail on i dont think there is anyway it would track right, mine has been broke since day 1, because i somehow forgot that at the end of the day a 6 inch hole isnt a 6 inch hole, if you get my drift.

  the tru trac ball has a rear fin that slopes down. so im taking the weight, that comes with the scout, and cutting it so when it sits on that slope the camera is level

   then its just a matter of braizing the wieghts to the ball. if i do this, instead of bolting the weight to the camera, im thinking i can use some rubber bands to connect it, that way if the ball does get hung up, i can possibly pull on the cable, break the bands and retrive the camera

   so the weights will add overall weight to the ball also

    for now, im just going to hand spool the thing down with the ball, and use a wood clamp against the transom to keep the cable taught. to see exactly how much blowback there is. my scout has 100 foot of cable so we will see

  there is video on the strikevision website.......i should be able to see pretty far

  pics tomorrow.....im busy smoking a chicken today....if i can keep it lit 

     

[pirkaus]

What about the monitor end of the cable as you reel it up
It will either twist or need some kind of turning joint
The main cable may also cut into the camera cable as the layers stack up under the weight if the ball etc